Do Markets Work Best?
Consider these methods of rationing scarce resources:
– lottery (I’ll SELECT YOUR NAME out of a hat to have this good or service.)
– arbitrary decision (I’ll PICK YOU because of some arbitrary characteristic, e.g. race, color, ethnicity, socio-economic status, geography, physical characteristic, academic ability, to have this good or service.)
– competition (I’ll BEST YOU IN COMPETION to have this good or service)
– dictatorship (I’ll INSIST THAT YOU WILL have this good or service!)
– first come/first served (I’LL GIVE YOU this good or service since you were first in line.)
Read the following quote by the late Dr. Paul Heyne:
” Market systems do not produce heaven on earth. But attempts by governments to repress market systems have produced in the 20th Century something very close to hell on earth.“
–Paul Heyne in Moral Criticisms of Markets
Your assignment is to write in a paragraph why the allocation mechanisms cited above may have led Dr. Heyne to make his statement on Market Systems.
